Just checking in to say hello to everyone, and to apologise for being absent from the last chat thread for so long! Thank you all so much for the birthday greetings - very sweet! I had a really nice day.

Well done to everyone that's weighed in so far - brilliant results! It's so nice having somewhere to weigh in and the structure of the BL challenge - I've found it helps me see my progress really clearly.

I just put on my weekly weigh in and was amazed to have lost 4lbs! For me, that's more than I've lost in a week for a very long time! Prior to that I was on a bit of a plateau, or at least my weight loss was crawling along at a really slow rate, so it's really great to finally have some results! I think I might put it down in part to starting the C25K programme last week - I've found it really great so far, and as I've not really been exercising, I think it's really helped!

Latchkey Princess - congratulations! I wish you all the best for a great pregnancy, and I agree, definitely sensible to go and speak to your midwife first! How exciting

I have been eating sooooooo OFF PLAN this week! And it's been showing, my mood has been drooping significantly. The only time I feel ugly, lame, or really negative is when I'm eating poorly. Sigh. On a happy note, I found a Betsey Johnson purse at Crossroads (a secondhand store that only takes nice, in style stuff) for 5 bucks. KJHGjdkghjdshgkjdshgjdkghsdj <3 good deals.

oodlesofnoodles - ahh, I love finding bargains like that! So satisfying! I really know what you mean about the food/mood thing. It's almost as though your body knows you are putting crap into it, and therefore feels crap as a result! For me, I find that this effect only really happens when I eat low-quality, processed junk food. If I overeat every now on then on really good, tasty home-cooked food that's nutritious (just very calorific in huge portions!), I don't feel so bad, but if I snack and graze too much on things like crisps or chocolate, I feel sluggish, lethargic and generally moody. It's amazing how quickly the "mm, yummy junk food!" effects wear off. I hope you feel better soon

Ugh Sat was horrible eating for me. Red Robin and Longhorn Steakhouse. I'm at work now, it's 6 am and I have the oddest craving for grilled chicken. I would love to just grill up a chicken breast right here at my desk LOL! So werid.

Latchkey Princess: Sorry to lose you but OMG CONGRATULATIONS!!! that is awesome news!!!

Oodlesofnoodles: I LOVE bargains like that. Brilliant times. And don't worry about the off-plan thing too much. We all get bad weeks. Think that now you know how bad eating junk makesy ou feel, maybe it'll help you keep on plan more? That's what I've been discovering anyway!

BatgirlAmy: hahaha well there are worse things you could be craving!! :P

So I moved into my flat last week. It is BEAUTIFUL. I love it. I have the smallest room but we have SUCH a nice kitchen and lounge that I really don't mind. My flatmates are lovely and all three of us are on healthy eating plans so thats great as it means that there is no chance of falling off-plan at home as NONE of us have any junk in the cupboards!

All three of us have started taking Green Tea essence capsules, which is supposed to kick-start your metabolism, so we'll see how they work. And I started back with my dance lessons yesterday. We had a 2 hour body conditioning class followed by 2 hours of dance. Plus the 15 minute walk to and from the theatre. My abs and legs are are making it very painful for me to laugh/walk. But the pain means its working so I'm not complaining!

I'm looking forward to being back on here and chatting again!
Hope you're all having a good week!

I'm having a little bit of a frustrating time with the scales - I had a really big loss last week (for me, anyway!), and this week, nothing at all. In fact, it's gone up a pound or two, since I ate out twice (big family meal when my dad came down to visit me at the weekend, and boyfriend's birthday earlier in the week!). Since I very rarely eat out, I decided to just allow myself to eat anything I liked and accept the maintenance for the week (or in my case, slight gain - which I think is just water retention - don't think it'd be possible to put on 2lbs of fat overnight!). I don't regret it at all, I had delicious meals and two really fantastic evenings, but I'm afraid it means my weekly challenge progress isn't so great this week!

To end on a positive note, I guess I am happy that these maintenance/small gains don't really bother me nearly as much as they used to - I think I've got much better at seeing the long view and understanding that weight loss isn't a really linear progress, and that everything I'm doing in my healthy lifestyle is positive for my health and wellbeing, even if there aren't immediate results on the scale!

How are things going for everyone else? Are you guys weighing daily or just weighing once a week on the weigh-in day? Hope everyone is making progress that they are happy with

raznt: yeah I'll let you know! at the moment it's going OK. No immediate results, but then, I wasn't expecting there to be! I was googling green tea weight loss effects yesterday, apparently it's a well-known and respected way to AID weightloss (you have to keep dieting/exercising though!) as it speeds up your metabolism which in turn burns more fat. I've been kind of varying it between just taking the capsules or opening them and tipping the powder into a cup of boiling water to make actual tea. It's not bad tasting either!

BatgirlAmy: it's not been too bad actually. We had another 3h+ dance session on Wednesday so it kind of refreshed my muscles a bit so I'm not in so much pain! Then had another dance class Thursday which worked different muscles and now they're aching!!! Ha. I'm loving it though! well done on your painful workout! Hope you'e not aching too much!

tinycities: I know EXACTLY what you mean!!! I went down 3.4lbs last week. I haven't had such a large loss since I first started my programme. And this week? Nothing again. Very disheartening, especially after all teh dance classes!!! I weigh myself everyday as a kind of "keep on plan" thing, as I find that if I have too much alcohol/carbs one day it shows up on the scale next day which then pushes me to be extra good to make up for it! But I only officially count my Sunday weigh-in on the Challenge/ticker/profile

Haleygirl82: One day of exercise is better than none at all!

So, where is everybody?? Just looked up our Weekly Weigh-In (well done everyone and congrats to sarcruze btw!) and there's quite a few people who didn't post last weeks weight, and there's about 5 of us posting on here...so where'd everyone go?

I've been pretty good this week. Turkey and vegetables/salad, weight watchers ready-meals (I'm sometimes too lazy to cook, especially after a 3h dance session!), porridge, low fat yoghurts... Then yesterday I went waaay off-plan. Went out Thursday night (alcohol. meh) so I was hungover: (I'm going to be really honest here, so this is embarrassing...) toast and peanut butter for breakfast, egg and bacon sandwich for lunch, Big Mac meal at McDonalds for dinner.....ugh. Paying for it this morning though. Feel very very rubbish! Won't be doing that again in a hurry...But at the time I enjoyed it, so I'm not TOO bothered about it. I refuse to stress about the occasional very-off day as sometimes that's just what you need isn't it?
We'll see how I feel about that philosophy tomorrow when I weigh in!!!!

i'm going to try and aim for more than 1 day of exercise this week but if nothing else i'll make sure to get 1 in. This week may be a little crazier than usual because on top of my increasing homework my friend and i have signed up for Champlain Amazing Race(my school's version), it starts Monday and lasts for 10 weeks, each week is a challenge to complete and i have no idea what to expect lol and i have to get a wisdom tooth pulled and i'm going to be asleep so that whole day might be shot as far as being productive, i hope i can still get to WW because it's the same day, since i go with my friend maybe she would be kind enough to let me ride with her since i might be too tired to drive i don't know. i'm sure i'll be on pain meds so i can't drive anyway lol I bought a WW points clicker just in hopes of making tracking easier for me and yesterday I liked it

Nice one Batgirl! Looking forward to hearing how that works for you!!!

Haleygirl, don't worry about it. If you can't find the time to exercise, try and be a bit stricter with your eating habits. I keep being told that losing weight has 80% to do with nutritional stuff and not exercising anyway

I went out last night as well. Ugh. Started off well. Had a fish and veggie stirfry for lunch (yum!) but then grilled sausages, bacon, egg and potatoes for dinner...followed by alcomohol! Though to be fair, I did drink a lot less than I usually do, and my friends and I had a BLAST. It was a very very strange nights but I had tons of fun so I refuse to get stressed about my eating! Plus I weighed myself this morning and I'm down another 0.8lb to 148.8 so hip hip hooray for that!

I have auditions for my course's term production this week and Freshers Week next, so my friends and I have decided to not go out at all this week, as we're hitting town BIG time for a friend birthday on Saturday. Hopefully I can keep it together till then, enough so that all that drinking won't take to bad a toll on my weight anyway!!

Hope you've all had a nice weekend and PLEASE REMEMBER TO POST YOUR WEIGHTS FOR THIS WEEK!!!!!! Today is the last day remember!